NORWALK — A state Department of Transportation consultant has recommended building a dock at the south end of the North Water Street Lot to accommodate the Norwalk Seaport Association and Maritime Aquarium vessels during replacement of the nearby Walk Bridge.

In the draft “Vessel Relocation Study,” obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, HNTB Corp. and two co-consultants engaged by the DOT put forward three dock arrangements — one parallel, another perpendicular and third at an angle to the shoreline — and recommended the first based upon input from stakeholders.

“Option 1 is the only viable solution for the ferry largely based on vessel maneuverability constraints under the range of current and wind conditions,” the vessel relocation study said.

Furthermore, the existing ticket booth could remain in place, according to the consultants.

On Tuesday, representatives of the Aquarium, the Seaport Association and the Norwalk Harbor Management Commission met at the Aquarium to discuss the study. The captains of R/V Spirit of the Sound and The C.J. Toth vessels also were at the table, said John Pinto, chairman of the commission’s Application Review Committee.

Pinto said the commission, which will review any development application put forward to rebuild the docks and relocate the vessels, at this point is saying neither yes or no to the relocation plan.

“We’ll be looking at its consistency with the harbor management plan,” Pinto said. “We need also the harbormaster’s opinion — our harbormaster really has to chime in. We’ll consider, obviously, the safety of people in and around there, especially at the time of construction. There’s going to be a lot of traffic.”

The Aquarium, Seaport Association and DOT did not respond immediately for comment Wednesday afternoon.

The DOT plans to begin replacing the 121-year-old Walk Bridge in early 2019 and use the area of the aquarium’s IMAX Theater as a staging area. The theater will be razed.

The vessel relocation study shows the new docks on the west side of the Norwalk River, immediately north of the Stroffolino Bridge and about 150 feet from a large construction barge that will be placed in the river.

The R/V Spirit of the Sound and The C.J. Toth, which are operated by the Aquarium and Seaport Association, respectively, now dock farther north off the North Water Street Lot. Where to relocate the vessels — both major tourists draw for Norwalk — during replacement of the Walk Bridge has long been a concern of officials.

In August, Mayor Harry Rilling wrote Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, asking for his helping identifying state resources to preserve “the existing living, commerce and entertainment patterns” in Norwalk and South Norwalk during the Walk Bridge replacement. Among other things, he asked for assistance in creating a “Norwalk Wharf” in the area of the IMAX Theater and North Water Lot.

“The Wharf project will include repurposing of the dock that CT DOT will build to temporarily house the vessels displaced due to construction, and an adjacent recreational facility related to water dependent use,” Rilling wrote. “We retained consultants to assist the city with developing the best plan for the redevelopment of this immediate area that will be impacted by the Walk Bridge construction.”

Rilling elaborated Wednesday on the challenges involved in accommodating the vessels during the bridge replacement.

“They’re both rather large. We’ve been trying top find a place to house them,” Rilling said. “The best answer we found is to build a docking facility right up next to the Stroffolino Bridge, because that’s still close to the Maritime Aquarium and it’s still accessible.”

Relocating the vessels, he said, would require renting a temporary location and shuttling passengers. Using the location next to the Stroffolino Bridge, as recommended in the report, would afford the city the opportunity to reuse the site after the Walk Bridge replacement project is complete, he added.

“After the construction is finished, we feel that that would be an ideal location to maintain as a docking area for those vessels along with a boathouse that would allow for other uses,” Rilling said. “We want to make sure that we bring people back to that area and we make it convenient for them to board the vessels.”